Sharon Yang
CHRO at SPD Silicon Valley BankSharon Yang is the Chief Human Resources Officer of SPD Silicon Valley Bank (SSVB). SSVB is the first technical bank in China focusing on supporting innovation companies. The past 20 plus years of Sharon’s work experience includes a number of HR roles spanning across a variety of industries and locations, including Banking, Real Estate Consulting, Renewable Energy and Engineering industries.
Sharon is the founding member of VHR, and career mentor of SAIF FMBA and SUFE IMBA programs.
LV Lillian
Market HR Lead, Mainland China and Hongkong at Google Information Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.Lillian is Market HR Lead for Mainland China and HongKong for Google. She’s had extensive experience on working with the engineering and cross functional teams in Google in the past 9 years and expertise in organization culture, team effectiveness, and coaching for career development. She held an executive MBA degree from Hongkong University and before Google she was with Microsoft in different functions. In spare time, Lillian is a professional coach(ICF PCC) and has had extensive coaching experience across different industries.
Shuyin Chuai
Founder of Mission Consulting• Coached 100+ CEOs and top teams in past 8 years
• Served as McKinsey Senior Organization and Leadership Expert from 2011-2020
• She designed and drove large scale transformation in SOE, MNC and local Chinese companies and developed hundreds of leaders to become change agents in following industry: New Retail, financial institutions, TMT, logistics, FMCG, pharmaceuticals, energy, IT, Auto, Education institutions etc.
• She contributed to the successful launching of 3 McKinsey books “Centered leadership”, “Beyond Performance” and “Digital@Scale”.
• Published 10+ articles in McKinsey Quarterly China edition: “An agile organization’s structure, process and people”, “Individual/team/organization learning in AI era” and “How to build an agile bank in China”.
• In 2017, she published her first book: A Tango between arts and management, 2023, She published her second book: Transformation at Light Speed
• Currently serving as the Honorary President of the Shanghai Alumni Association of the University of Illinois and a council member of the Shanghai Alumni Association of Peking University
Guoxiong Zhang
Managing Director of Economic Advisory at Deloitte ChinaDr Zhang Guoxiong is the Managing Director of Deloitte China's Economic Advisory Service He has rich economic research experience in academia, international institutions and business consulting, and has provided macroeconomic and strategic advice to the C level executives of more than 100 multinational companies, including dozens of Fortune 500 companies At Deloitte China, Dr Zhang provides macroeconomic and policy advice to senior executives of foreign and local companies, and helps multinational companies localize in the Chinese market and Chinese companies expand their global business.
Previously, Dr Zhang was Shanghai Director and China Research Head of The Economist Corporate Network Before joining The Economist Group, Dr Zhang was an Assistant Professor of Economics at Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and a Visiting Scholar at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University During his doctoral studies, Dr Zhang also worked as a summer intern economist at the Asian Development Bank Dr Zhang has directed and led a number of national research projects, and his research papers have been presented at several international academic and policy conferences, and some of them have been published in top academic journals Dr Zhang taught macroeconomics and finance at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Zhang Guoxiong graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a Ph D in Economics and a Master's degree in Statistics Dr Zhang also holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Zhejiang University
Karl Qiu
General Manager of China and Southeast Asia Region at Pentair Water Purification Systems (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.With over 20 years of experience in human resource management, quality management, IT, internal auditing, and corporate transformation and organizational development within Fortune 500 multinational corporations, Sino-foreign joint ventures, and state-owned enterprises. Served as the Vice President of Corporate Management and Vice President of Human Resources Management in a wholly-owned subsidiary of a top American chemical company in the Fortune 500, as well as the Human Resources Director for China and the Strategic Human Resources Director for Asia in a globally renowned Japanese company. Currently holds the position of General Manager for China and Southeast Asia at Pentair Group. Skilled in leading the formulation and implementation of corporate development strategies, establishing and perfecting the company's organizational development and management systems, and integrating them organically with corporate culture to promote business development.
Master of Industrial Engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Certified Public Accountant in China, Economist in Human Resource Management, Member of the Human Resources Professional Committee of the Shanghai Labor Society, Deputy Director of the "Companion" Small and Medium Enterprise Expert Volunteer Service Team in Xuhui District, and Honorary President of the Huzhou Human Resources Managers Association.
Zak Dychtwald
Founder & CEO of Young China GroupZak Dychtwald is the Founder and CEO of Young China Group, a market insights firm and consultancy based between China and the US. He leads “YCG Bridgeworks: A Cross Geography Collaboration Lab” focused on a people-first, data-backed approach to improving collaboration between global teams, with a special focus on US-based F500 companies with established China-based teams.
Dychtwald is also the author of critically acclaimed Young China: How the Restless Generation Will Change Their Country and the World (St. Martin’s Press), available in six languages.
A frequent expert contributor to Harvard Business Review and globally sought after speaker, Zak has been invited to speak on six continents including Harvard University, The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council Summit, Aspen Ideas Festival, among others. He has been named an Asia 21 Next Generation Fellow and elected Chair of the American Chamber of Commerce Shanghai Future Leaders Committee.
Heidi Xu
APAC HR Solution Director of DowHeidi is the Asia Pacific HR Solutions director for Dow who is accountable for exceptional and efficient delivery of our portfolio of HR solutions to drive a positive Employee Experience in the region. She has worked in Dow for 19 years and is currently based in Shanghai. Before her HR experience, Heidi did a variety of commercial jobs in Shanghai and the US, including managing profit & loss of 2 billion USD business in Asia Pacific. Heidi is also the chair of Dow APAC Women Inclusion Network (WIN), an employee resource group in Dow, with the aim to foster diversity & inclusive culture, drive gender equality and accelerate female career development. Heidi was the executive representative of Dow in Woman Empowerment Council from 2011 to 2023. She was also the winner of Dow Global Champion Award on gender equality in Y2024.
Patrick Gong
Principal at Mercer ChinaPatrick Gong is a principal at Mercer China with over 16 years of experience in consulting industry.
Patrick has participated and led over 100 consulting projects, covering but not limited to job analysis & evaluation, grading system, compensation assessment and pay structure, workforce effectiveness, workforce forecast modelling, sales incentives, long-term incentives, change management, global & domestic transfer policy, M&A & global talent management strategy etc. Clientele includes multi-national corporations, state-owned enterprises, privately-owned enterprises and joint-ventures in China.
Patrick’s consulting experience has extended to a variety of industries, including automotive, FMCG, retail, luxury goods, pharmaceutical and life science, chemical, professional services, internet etc. Leading clients include Ford, CATL, Tesla, SAIC, Chang’an Group, J&J, BMW, Coco-cola, Accor, Yanfeng, Bosch China, Dongfeng, Starbucks and Disney etc.
Awarded as the “best-mentor” by Mercer Learning, Patrick has been successfully delivered public training course to over 20,000 audience in terms of job grading, compensation planning and rewards systems. He is also the host and key-note speaker for multiple China-and-regional-level conferences.
Before joining Mercer, Patrick has been working for a management consulting firm specialized in providing vertical solutions to corporate strategies, market entry and establish SOP.
Patrick graduated from Tongji University with degree in Business management and is proficient in English. He is also a certified Global Remuneration Professional (GRP) by WorldatWork (WAW).
Leo Han
Independent researcher in the field of relationships, Senior coachUncle Leo is an independent researcher in the field of relationships, senior coach, 2015 100 most creative people in Chinese business by 《Fast Company》, former CEO of HarmonyFirst (China) Consulting Co., Ltd., the copyright holder of the "Intergenerational Leadership" course
Michelle Liang
China Country Human Resources Leader at Applied MaterialsMichelle has been partnering with senior executives from China, Asia Pacific and global for different B2B and B2C industrials over the last 20+ years. With her profound experiences in sales, marketing and HR, she witnessed the expanding scales and responsibilities falling on HR professionals over her roles as China and APAC region HR leader and as APAC Business HR partner. She has been exploring how to have HR work closer and more effectively with business and to enable HR as a sustainable part of business growth; and being a PCC, Michelle also provides continuous efforts in executive coaching to leaders from China and Asia Pacific countries, from which she learns the pain points from businesses leaders and also demonstrates new values that leaders and HR can play in influencing people. Most recently in 2024, Michelle has started her new journey upon joining Applied Material China. She will continue to explore the new industry and lead the team to overcome new challenges.
Jialiang Wang
Founder of Megamind AI IncubatorJialiang Wang is a serial entrepreneur and an angel investor. He became the founder and the CEO of CooTek in 2008, and spent 10 years to lead the company to IPO in NYSE in 2018. CooTek is a leading mobile app developer in China and has over 200 million daily active users worldwide.
Mr.Wang joined WEF Global Shaper community in 2011 and became a fellow of Aspen China-Israel Innovation in 2015. In 2019, he participated in the Aspen fellow's action pledge in Sierra Leone, donating laptops to a local charity school and a social enterprise.
Mr.Wang is an angel investor in AI, gaming, education and oversea business. He invested in some AI startups. He is also a Certified Professional Co-active Coach (CPCC) helping entrepreneurs succeed.
Since 2022, Mr. Wang has incubated two social enterprises. One of the companies is committed to bringing gaming and education together, with a vision to become the Khan Academy of gamified education. Another social enterprise, Megamind AI Incubator, brings together a group of middle school students to use AI to start a business under the leadership of entrepreneurship mentors, aiming to replace the existing university education.
Mr. Wang graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University with a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in electronic engineering. After graduating, he worked in Microsoft's R&D China as a product manager.
Phil Guo
Lead Visual Strategist at Deloitte ConsultingPhil is an innovation specialist in the consulting industry, bringing creative approaches to human-centered design with nearly 15 years of consulting experience.
He is the pioneer of Deloitte’s “visual practice”. His approach is rooted in “human”, blended with multidisciplinary studies in anthropology, psychology, human factors, gamification, visual arts and interactive media on complex organization and innovation topics.
Phil serves as a Global Board of Directors of International Forum of Visual Practitioners, and is one of the 50 authors of the encyclopedia “The World of Visual Facilitation” and the only selected practitioner from China. Phil is passionate about travel photography and art creation, with cross-cultural working experience in China, the US, South East Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
Michael Xue
Sr. HR Business Partner Lead at Amazon ChinaMichael Xue has 18 years HR industry experience and practiced HR three-pillar-model for over 10 years. Before joining Amazon, he served as an HR business partner in both local internet companies as well as multinational companies like Intel and Cisco.
Robert Abbanat
CEO of GloCoachRob is the CEO and Co-Founder of GloCoach, a groundbreaking platform that connects leadership talent with human-centric, AI-powered talent development solutions, enabling individuals to achieve peak performance and drive superior outcomes. He has led the development of the industry’s first comprehensive platform that integrates advanced AI modules to enhance the entire talent development process, significantly increasing both efficiency and effectiveness.
In addition to his leadership at GloCoach, Rob has emerged as a thought leader in the realm of AI and its application to talent development. His innovative approach is reshaping how organizations nurture and maximize their leadership potential.
Before founding GloCoach, Rob spent a decade as a technology-focused educational program consultant for NASA and served as Managing Director at M1 Capital Group. He holds a BS in Physics from Boston College, a MS in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech, and an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Rob has also served on the Board of Governors at AmCham Shanghai and was recognized as Cubmaster of the Year by the Boy Scouts of America for his leadership with Shanghai’s Pack 12 Scouts. A resident of China since 2006, Rob is a dedicated family man with three children.